Informed consent

One important condition for working with personal data is the permission of the person in question. This informed consent must satisfy certain requirements.

You must be able to show that you have received people’s valid permission to process their personal data. It is important that they grant this permission voluntarily; otherwise you are not permitted to process their information, or they are entitled to withdraw their permission.

This informed consent must satisfy certain requirements:

Simply obtaining permission is not enough. The information on the basis of which the permission has been given must also be documented. In this way, you can show that you informed the people well and that they gave their permission specifically for this situation.

You must be able to show a clear link between the permission obtained and the personal data you are processing. Permission must be obtained separately for each different purpose.

Checklist: informed consent for researchers

Explain as clearly as possible:

the reason why you are collecting the personal data

that you will not use the personal data for any other purpose

When test subjects are under 16, you should also obtain (additional) permission from the subjects’ parents/guardians.